luckycanuck

It has been a busy weekend.  I was up early on Saturday when Renaissance Priest came by to pick me up to help him move.

We managed to get a sofa bed into the van, but to do so we had to get it through a gate.  Rather than put it down and fiddle with it, I convinced him that we could do a clean and jerk with it.  From carrying it, using the same motion as in the clean and jerk, we managed to get it higher than the fence and kept it there as we walked through the gate.  That and some other lifting was my improvised workout for the day.

We wound up just outside Sydney picking up a heavy old desk before driving all the way back to Young in our rented van, the largest vehicle I have ever driven.  It didn't have a massive horn to warn everyone to get out of your way, but you can't have everything.  It also had manual transmission and I managed to only stall it once.  I also managed to keep an even temper towards the end of the evening when he and his mother in law were in the van all the way to Young for hours while fatigued after being up since early morning and packed into the cab of a moving van with two people who were talking a lot.

This morning I was up at 5:00am to get the van back to Canberra.  Immediately I got home, picked up my gear, and was off to my fire brigade assessment.  The theory exam wound up with us discussing the answers with the assessors and we marked our own tests, so everyone got 100%.  It's not meant to be an exercise in memorisation they said.

There was going to be a prescribed burn, but it was called off on account of rain.  We did demonstrate our skills in setting up hydrants, rolling and unrolling hoses and working with pumps, and operating the radios including spelling our names using the phonetic alphabet.  (For the record: Lima, Uniform, Charlie, Kilo, Yankee, Charlie, Alpha, November, Uniform, Charlie, Kilo.)

The burn will be done some time soon, and provided I don't run off the fireground in a panic, I will qualify as a bush firefighter.

Now I'm exhausted.

I had my first day of Rural Fire Brigade training on Wednesday and came home with temporary firefighting gear that will do until I can get properly fitted gear.



There was also a presentation on grass fires and tactics that go with fighting them.  Keep one foot in the black we were told, so if there is a sudden change in wind direction you won't get caught between a fast moving grass fire and unburnt fuel.  Also, wear your gear.  All of your gear, all of the time.  There was a video recounting the story of an Oklahoma firey who went too fast towards a fire, trying to get on top of it before it could spread.  He wasn't wearing all his gear and he got into a bad position by trapping himself on the fire side of a barbed wire fence between the flank of the fire and heaps of dry grass.  When the wind changed, he was caught between the fire and the fence, and without his gear he was burned badly enough that he died the next day.

So yesterday I did a workout whilst wearing my gear, including my helmet.

YW: Row 400m, run 400m, 20 kettlebell swings, 2 flights of stairs farmers walk w 15 kg in each hand, 10 burpees - 5 rounds.  I call it "Fired Up."  I got some funny and occasionally disapproving looks from people, but then I thought "would you rather I DIDN'T do this?"

My studies are going fine, and I'm most of the way through the Cert III textbook.  This part of my qualification shouldn't take long.

NBS, after languishing for ages, has now gotten a sort of takeover offer.  They aren't proposing to buy up the company's stock.  They want to buy all the assets and then a dividend can be paid to shareholders.  With this, I'm out.  I've been trying to get out, but with the stock price jumping 25% today I will be able to get more for my shares than I would have if I hadn't cancelled an order five minutes before the market opened this morning.  I don't trust management not to screw up the sale or to pay the shareholders the proceeds.  I would trust them to burn up the cash on themselves, however.  Luckily, I have held the shares long enough to vote against the directors up for election and their pay increases.

VMG now has options on the market, and in addition to the ones I was granted, I bought more.  An announcement of the terms of sale of a subsidiary is imminent, and it should mean a large cash infusion for the company.  This should be reflected in an increased share price, and a magnified increase in option price given the lower price compared to the shares.  I'll sell these after that announcement comes through or when the share price recovers and circumstances are advantageous.

Off to an ordination tomorrow for Renaissance Priest.  Also Ginger Harpist is leaving.  I don't like the atmosphere around her now that her guy is living here, but they move out tomorrow and the kettle will remain plugged in.  Our household BBQ is going ahead, technically, but only Roxy and Esky have people coming.  With the ordination in Goulburn and another party that a number of friends are already committed to, I thought I would have a better time elsewhere.  There will be another party, perhaps on Australia Day like earlier this year, in the new year once the new arrivals are settled.

I did some media preparation for Black Dog Pushups in Canberra, which will likely be done next week provided I am fit.  I won't do as many as in Sydney, but I will still do a lot.  I will be contacting local TV, radio, and newspapers ahead of time, and Tweeting the day before to a number of politicians and sports teams in the hopes of getting it to go viral.  I also received my Black Dog Pushups business cards (and consulting business cards, but BDP is more interesting in the short term.)

I was also asked at a former work function on Wednesday night if I would be interested in offering group training sessions during sitting weeks in the morning or in the evening.  These former colleagues, passing the hat around, could be my first clients.

There are now four jobs that I am being put forward for.  I rang the agency that set me up with the two "you're too political" job interviews and mentioned how much this bothered me.  In a round about way, I asked if there was any point in looking for any public service jobs.  I probably will (this is Canberra) but my estimation of the institution is low right now.

Also, running is fun.  Running in the rain is more fun.  Running in the rain when you cannot possibly get any more wet is awesome fun.

New exercises were discovered today.

There was doing clean and press with kettlebells in both hands simultaneously, then putting them down and doing a pushup over them.  There was also lying on the floor with a 15kg bag on one shoulder, then getting up to a standing position while keeping the bag on the shoulder.  Good for core strength (but did inflame the twinge slightly.)

TW: Rowing 2km as a warmup then trying out new things with kettlebell fun and weighted bags, then burpees, then chest contractions and pushups done in turn in sets of 10.

I have to find a doctor or dentist or mayor or judge or lawyer or police officer to sign off on my Canadian passport application.  It's kind of annoying.  I know plenty of MPs and Senators but no Mayors.  If I had to I could probably get a Cabinet Minister to act as a guarantor, but that won't do.  Not to worry.  A former housemate is a lawyer and I'm sure he will help out.  Soon I will be able to get in and out of America without paying the visa waiver fee that Australian's have to pay, and I can enter the country of my birth using something other than a Australian passport.  People always tell me it's important to have two passports if you can.  For me, it's not an especially big deal, but if it will help I'll do it.

I think there will be a lot of gym this weekend, but I also think Renaissance Priest is being ordained as a deacon in Goulburn this weekend so I will have to go to that if I can.  It could have been me, but it's better that it's not.  Also, it turns out that he and his wife are going to be parents soon, which is good news.  All of it just seems to fit, which is something I've not been feeling recently.

Jeans were bought today.  I managed to find a pair that fit well in the waist, and were loose enough in the legs and elsewhere to accommodate the rest of my frame.  And the odd thing was it was in Harris Scarfe.  A discount retail place selling jeans for under $30.  So I now own jeans and I didn't have to fund the international cartel of denim artisans who think jeans should be worn by people with skinny chicken legs who look like the singer in a lame emo band.  I would have bought two pairs, but they only had one in my size.  Still, HOORAY!

I had though about going to the gym, but after sleeping in and shopping and picking up some fruit and veg (I really need to expand my Lent cooking repetiore) I still felt some leftover fatigue.  I did, however, walk into Kingston to view the Skyfire fireworks and to have the last veggie burger at Brodburger.  There was a 30 minute wait for burgers at the little red caravan, but it was worth it.

Renaissance Priest was there with his wife and in laws and we watched the sky above the lake being lit up, some local ducks paddling away in a panic, and some local underage bogan teenagers getting drunk.

Tomorrow perhaps I will run.

The wedding was long.  Both couples take their liturgy seriously and both are very much into church music so anything that could be included was included.  There was a sung eucharist (so the Sanctus went on for ten minutes) and very long hymns (up to eight verses I think.)  The whole show went on for nearly two hours.  It was the most avowedly religious wedding I have ever been to, which was perfectly appropriate given the religious inclinations of Renaissance Priest and Mrs Renaissance Priest.  I've always been a bit baffled by secular couples who want to be married in a traditional looking church but ask "can you, like, not mention God, at all?"

I enjoyed it though it left me rather hungry.  Luckily, cake (quite good and made by the father of the bride) and champagne was had right after the service rather than at the reception.

The duty I had volunteered for involved driving the bridesmaids from the hotel to the church to the photos to the reception to the hotel again and back to the reception.  For this I was assigned to a 1979 Mercedes 230.  It takes a while to get used to driving any new car, and the fact that the accelerator was in a bit of an awkward spot and the fact that I was driving a car with ribbons coming from the top of the doors to the hood ornament on suburban streets meant I didn't set any land speed records.  Still, I do get looked at funny when driving a car that is nearly as old as I am.  It was cool, but now I'm back to my not at all flashy Magna.

After dropping the bridesmaids off at the hotel for them to fix themselves up for the reception, I parked around the corner when the heavens broke and curtains of rain began to fall.  I ran to get into the hotel, but the front of my suit was pretty heavily soaked.  The bridesmaids invited me in and one of them proceeded to dry off my trousers off with a hairdryer and a towel.  Errr... hello stranger.

The reception went very well.  There was a pretty young crowd and no embarassing drunk uncles or racist aunts were in attendance.  The mother of the bride sang excerpts from Fiddler on the Roof and Edith Piaf, and I had a chat with a female priest during which I tried not to vent too much about my frustrations with the selection process for priests.  (Abridged version: How can I have any confidence in a process or an organisation that apparently takes no interest in whether or not I actually become a priest?)

I wasn't up late.  Some of the revellers were talking about going out afterwards (including a Tongan bouncer who knew Renaissance Priest and I whilst he was also doing theological studies towards ordination.  He looks like any heavily built polynesian bouncer, but is in fact about he most soft spoken and gentle guy you could ever meet.)  I was home just after midnight, and managed to doze a bit in the morning before Cinnabunny came by for tea and pictures of Kokoda.

A couple of afternoon drinks and a long chat about a variety of subjects and eventually dinner was had with Gundachick.  Tonight will be a pretty early night I think.  Perhaps I will make every night this week an early night (i.e. in bed by midnight.)

I've spent a great deal of the last 36 hours surrounded by women.  Well, I do seem to have a lot more female friends than male friends.

TW: Another dry run at the 300 workout, this time done with slow and deliberate repetitions. It's takes longer but the extra work and strain should make it easier when I do it for real. For some reason the fire exit was open in the men's changing room when I got back, with a clear line of sight to the car park. A good reminder to wrap a towel around myself when walking to the shower.

I had dinner tonight with Renaissance Priest (so named because he has had a lot of varied jobs in getting to this point) and his fiance. RP and I went through the vocations process together a couple of years ago. He and I were the token young guys in the group. I was 30, he was 24. The next youngest was in his 40s. While I didn't go forward towards the priesthood, he did. He's a natural with this.

They are getting married in January. (I'm driving three bridesmaids around, and I'm told they're good looking. They had better be.) Until then they are living together in the old rectory at St Paul's. Officially, she is living in the rector's spare room until they are married. This is the cover story to avoid the disapproval of nosy busybodies in the parish. Because as we all know, when you are ordained to any clerical office, you give up your private life. Anything the clergy do is the business of every chattering parishioner. So what if they've been engaged for over a year and are getting married in about a month? We can't have them living under the same roof now can we? End sarcasm.

I ate plenty which is good, because I only realised whilst walking to my car that tomorrow I am having another round of dental surgery. Bring on the implant. I'll have to have a workout in the morning before heading off and I'll take a day away from the office.